International Mother Language Day, celebrated yearly on 21 February, has not only historical but also symbolic meaning. Its message is meant to all forms of a language, not only the standard one—for many language users, their mother tongue is a dialect, a minority language, or a multilingual identity.
it is aimed to remind us of the importance of mother language, to promote its learning and to improve the level of language competence.
“We often fail to appreciate the value of our mother tongue in everyday life. However, language is one of the most powerful tools for preserving and developing our tangible and intangible cultural heritage, as well as for promoting linguistic diversity, ” Kristína Bobeková from Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics explains.
Read the article about the International Mother Language Day here.